Bella Ramsey didn’t expect fans to like her character Lyanna Mormont

Bella Ramsey didn’t expect fans to like her character Lyanna Mormont

Most fans of the Game of Thrones series really like the feisty little maiden commonly known as Lyanna Mormont, and exceptionally so because of her indomitable spirit and her fiery speeches which can bring even the dead back to life, metaphorically speaking of course.

However, the actress behind the character, Bella Ramsey was apparently quite surprised at the fact that fans really liked her character as disclosed in an interview. Apparently, the young actress doesn’t have a habit of watching shows she has helped film and doesn’t even know the results of the efforts she has put in. Furthermore, she even said that she expected the fans to dislike her character instead of adoring it.

“I was petrified when it came out, as I expecting people to hate what I’d done and not like Lyanna,” said Ramsey. “I was scared I’d be received in a bad way. I was very shocked people liked my performance.”

As per the actress, she is too scared to watch herself perform and the results which it yields, which comes as quite a surprise given the talent of the young extraordinaire. She admits to being a fan of the series and to being pretty excited about the final season of the show as well, however, she says that she never watches her own scenes in the show and skips them altogether. She further revealed that she has also managed to keep in touch with a few actors from the show, Kit Harrington or the actor behind Jon Snow being one of them.

“He always said [to go to him] if I want some bad advice, but I don’t think his advice is bad!” remarks Ramsey jovially. “When I went to the Baftas I asked him about live interviews, what advice he would give, and he said, ‘just be yourself and don’t try to say what you think people want you to’. That’s the best advice you can give.”

Bella further revealed that she would rather choose to be a successful actress than a famous celebrity, which seems to be a much better and peaceful choice for the young, sensible lady. She seems to have taken Harrington’s advice to heart and doesn’t like to cater to the crowds and get involved in as much of the politics behind fame as other actors do and rather choose to follow the path of an artist instead.

“When Game Of Thrones came out lots of interviews were coming in and people asking me to do certain things which would push me out there. Like this whole Instagram and Twitter thing, getting more followers doesn’t bother me at all,’ she said, non-plussed about the whole fame game,” said young Bella. “So I held off from doing interviews because I want my life to be my own. I think we could have pushed it more and I could have been more of a celebrity, but that isn’t something I wanted to do.”

Well, now the young, talented actress knows better about how her fans perceive her and might probably be less scared about watching her own scenes as she returns in the latest upcoming final season of the epic Game of Thrones saga set to be released this April 14.

Even wine couldn’t cheer Emilia Clarke after reading the final Games Of Thrones scripts

Dany or as she likes to remind everyone who is at the receiving end of her wrath, Daenerys Stormborn of the House Targaryen, First of Her Name, the Unburnt, Queen of the Andals and the First Men, Khaleesi of the Great Grass Sea, Breaker of Chains, and Mother of Dragons, wandered for “three hours, aimlessly” around London after reading the final Game of Thrones scripts. While talking to Press Association in a recent interview, Emilia Clarke said, “It might as well have been raining and I would’ve just walked in it not knowing what to do.”

The last days of her shooting as Daenerys were filled with sadness and “loads of tears”, and “equal amounts of fear” similar to her filming the first-day scene. Clarke couldn’t bring herself out of her dejectedness even with the help of wine, “That was the moment I realized that alcohol can also be a depressant,” she said. “I was kind of nursing a glass of wine going, ‘I don’t know why I’m not getting any happier from this.'”

Is it just the ending of this epic show that’s having this profound effect on our Khaleesi, or is there something darker and sinister waiting around the corner for us viewers in Game of Thrones season 8 which is the cause for it? Let’s just hope it is the former but knowing the darkness that underlines the show, we shouldn’t be surprised if something of a sledgehammer comes at us by the time the show ends, as has been teased by Harrington.

When Clarke received the final scripts of Game Of Thrones, she was having tea with a friend and immediately left for home to read. While talking about her immediate reaction to the scripts for season 8, in a recent cover story for EW, Clarke said she read the scripts in one late night sitting, “I turned to my best mate and was like, ‘Oh my God! I gotta go! I gotta go!’ And I completely flipped out. Genuinely the effect it had on me was profound. That sounds insanely pretentious, but I’m an actor, so I’m allowed one pretentious adjective per season.”

Clarke says she will miss Dany’s “clear-sighted straight-backed calmness” as she gets “energy from her.”

Sean Bean reflects on his time as Ned Stark on Game of Thrones, the unaired pilot, and more

It’s been a really long time since we last saw Eddard ‘Ned’ Stark on Game of Thrones. I mean, the very foundation of this epic series began with him. Most of the people (non-book readers) believed that Ned was ultimately going to be the protagonist of the story – all characters, and major plot points revolving until the ninth episode of the Season 1 proved us otherwise. Yet much like Rhaegar Targaryen and Lyanna Stark – who’ve been dead for a long time – Ned too had a propelling role in the series. The biggest example being his execution that led to the War of Five Kings that eventually leads us to the current events in the series. But, what does the actor who played the role think?

Well, Sean Bean – the actor who had played the role of Ned recently talked to Entertainment Weekly reflecting on his time on Game of Thrones, his role in the unaired pilot, and more. Let’s dive into it.

Ned Stark – being one of the good characters in the series was an honourable man, a great friend, and a true sibling to his sister Lyanna. I can imagine, how important it was for him to keep the lineage of Jon Snow a secret- he kept from everyone including his wife Catelyn. He was even ready to trade his honour for it as it could have been torn the Seven Kingdoms apart. The secret could have died with him unless not discovered by Bran and Sam. When asked if “anyone from the show gave him a courtesy call to reveal the truth about Jon Snow’s parents”, Sean revealed:

“Like with everything with Game of Thrones, it was kept very dark and secret. I think that’s the kind of magic and the glory of Game of Thrones… that’s why it’s so stunning and breathtaking when these secrets are revealed.”

Dan Weiss and David Benioff did a fantastic job not only adapting the pages from a book into a TV series but with the casting of the series too! But did they tell Sean about his character in advance?

“Yeah, we met for lunch in Soho, six or seven years ago now, before we started the pilot. We had a really good chat, and I was very thrilled to be asked to play the role. I think it was only myself and Peter cast at the time. I was very thrilled about the whole idea. I didn’t actually know at that time how enormous and massive this series would become. I was just getting my head around the part, as we all were. None of us really could’ve imagined it would be such a big-scale, tantalizing drama. Yeah, that was the beginning of the story for me. And, of course, I knew I wasn’t going to last very long. I accepted that.”

When asked if the showrunners told him about the secret of Jon Snow’s parentage during that meeting, Sean replied:

“Not really. They said that some things happened, there were quite dramatic twists and turns. They let me know what they were within the first [season]. It was enough just keeping up with these intricate and complex storylines, with all the families and different worlds. Any more information would’ve probably been overload. As you can see, the death and how it’s developed, I think there’s only so much you can take at once. They only reveal what they want you to know, and that’s good, I think. That’s what makes it so exciting to find out.”

Ned Stark is one of the characters in the story besides Jon Snow who resonates really well with other characters in the story although his son (nephew-in-disguise) seems a bit too brooding at times. On this, Sean Bean suggests:

“He’s very honourable, he’s very honest, he’s a man of integrity, and he does the dirty work, as he does at the beginning when he chops off the guy’s head. But he’s a man who’s very fair-minded, and he’ll stick to his principles through thick and thin, regardless of who he’s up against. With him going to King’s Landing and getting involved with such backstabbers, it’s something he wasn’t used to, and certainly not at that level. I think it was quite tragic to see him chipped away by these people until he was really struggling, and he was in very deep.”

The original – unaired pilot episode of Game of Thrones had a lot of Game of Thrones had a lot of differences especially some cast members were replaced like Tamzin Merchant with Emilia Clarke for Daenerys Targaryen. When asked about those differences, Sean revealed:

“I remember a scene with Bran in the old tree and [his parents are] talking to him about life. He was very young at the time when Isaac was playing the part. There are some nice scenes with [Williams as Arya]. I quite enjoyed those scenes because there was a lot of horrible backstabbing going on, and I think those scenes stood out because they were very natural and people could identity with them: a father and his children. I also remember the banquet, which was quite interesting. We shot it in Scotland, and it was a banquet with King Robert. All the families were coming together, there was a real feeling of this horrible tension, which represents what we did afterwards.”

Lastly, talking about his last day of filming and what he remembered about him playing the role for the last time, Sean ended by saying:

“I remember filming that day. The death, that was wonderful because it was so unexpected. I thought it was amazing how they shot it. But I died, and then I had to do some scenes from earlier in the episode, so it wasn’t the end for me. We were in Malta; it was very hot. It was very colourful. Everyone was there, and with things like that, there’s a sort of gallows humour to it. It’s awful what’s happening, and you start giggling and laughing. When the head fell off, there were mistakes. It didn’t quite work out sometimes. It was quite comical. So it breaks the ice a bit.”

What were your thoughts on this interview of Sean Bean and did his character in the story deserve true justice in the series? Tell us in the comments.

Kit Harington pulls a Jon Snow in Late Show interview with Stephen Colbert

Earlier this week, in a battle of wits worthy of Littlefinger, Late Show host Stephen Colbert grilled Harington in wildly creative ways about the 8th and final season of Game of Thrones (set to premiere on April 14) as the British actor tried his best to feign ignorance – Jon Snow style.

What ensued is of course hilarity, but also a hearty conversation about the extraordinary impact Game of Thrones has had on those involved with the show, and the world at large.

From Season 1 to Season 8, everything from the actor’s beard to the scale of his job has changed. But the one thing that bothers him the most is his fur coat, which got progressively heavier and smellier with the seasons. Reason for this? Harington is prompt with his answer:

“The costume designer hates actors, obviously!”

Speaking of the world though, Harington is anxious that a part of the audience might be taking away the wrong lessons from the show, specifically a few current world leaders.

“I’ve got this theory that we kind of screwed the political landscape”, Harington says amidst general laughter, “I felt like that, you know, certain political figures tried to emulate Joffrey, and things went a bit wrong?”

Harington himself is perhaps the best example of the life-changing phenomenon that GoT has been. Not only he went from an unknown drama school major to one of the highest paid stars in television today, he also met and fell in love with his future wife Rose Leslie on the GoT sets.

The feisty Ygritte from beyond the wall may have died in Jon Snow’s arms, but Leslie and Harington’s off-screen romance fared a lot better, with the two of them tying the knot in June last year.

Leslie is no more privileged than the rest of us as far as spoilers are concerned, though. As Harington revealed:

“She has guessed every single possible outcome bar the one that actually happens.”

Which is just as well, because according to Harington, the last time he actually obliged her request for spoilers, Leslie was angry with him for days!

Colbert and the rest of us fans can’t even be angry though, because Harington is not letting anything out. With all the craze and publicity going on, that’s an uphill job. As Harington says, he can’t even lie for some peace of mind, because,

“Then that gets picked up and they pick it apart, and anything that might be true they narrow that out it.”

The guessing game did end on a high note though, as Harington was quite approving of Colbert’s last shot at a possible ending for Game of Thrones season 8; Jon Snow becoming the father to a boy named – wait for it – Tony Stark AKA Ironman! Now that’s a crossover we all can get behind.